Hemodialysis means “cleaning the blood” and that’s exactly what the treatment
does. Blood is withdrawn from the body by a machine and passed through an
artificial kidney called a dialyzer. Various tubes are attached to the
blood vessels in the body and the blood is slowly pumped from the body into the
dialyzer, where waste products and extra fluid are removed. The filtered blood
is then pumped back into the body after waste molecules such as urea are
removed and proteins along with other molecules that are essential to the body
remain to be carried throughout the blood stream. Hemodialysis may improve the quality
of life and increase life expectancy but hemodialysis provides only about 10%
of normal kidney function. It does not reverse chronic kidney disease or kidney
failure but helps to maintain chemical balances and regulate waste production
by the cells of the body. When chronic kidney disease progresses to kidney
failure over time, the kidneys do not get better and will need dialysis for the
rest of one's life unless a kidney transplant is available.
4 Steps to
Hemodialysis:
A thin layer of synthetic plastic known as the
dialysis membrane, keeps the blood apart from the dialysis solution (dialysate).
Blood cells are too big to pass through the
dialysis membrane, but wastes and water can diffuse through it into the
dialysis solution.
3. Diffusion is complete. Body wastes have
diffused through the membrane and essential minerals and molecules are
kept in the blood to be returned to the patient.
4. Wastes are removed by removing the dialysis
fluid and the blood is pumped back into the patient.
Hemodialysis is similar to the normal function of the kidney as the waste from the blood is removed through diffusion from the blood to the dialysis solution. However hemodialysis is different from the function of the normal kidney as there is no permeable membrane allowing certain molecules to pass through passive transport. Hemodialysis is usually performed at a dialysis center three times per week for 3 to 4 hours. Clinics also offer home hemodialysis in addition to standard in-clinic treatments. The patient first learns to do treatments at the clinic, working with a dialysis nurse, daily home hemodialysis is done 5 to 7 days per week for 2 to 3 hours at a time. Nocturnal dialysis can be performed for 8 hours at night while a person sleeps. Depression is very common among dialysis patients as changes in mood are common in people with kidney failure as treatments can be emotionally draining.